A New Approach to Ofsted Ratings: A Guide for Parents
A new approach to Ofsted ratings officially launched in November 2025, as part of a new Education Inspection Framework. Parents of children attending early years settings, schools, and further education, will therefore soon begin to see the new-style Ofsted ‘Report Cards’ that will be published following inspections. These are designed to replace — and improve upon — the previous one-word Ofsted rating system, which had become controversial∞. Gone will be what became known as the “single word judgements” on settings (previously a choice between Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate). Instead, parents will see a much more detailed ‘Report Card’ that combines at-a-glance headline information with multiple sub-section details. The idea is to give parents a more comprehensive view of how schools and settings measure up across a broad range of performance metrics, as well as providing important context. In essence, parents will be able to easily and quickly identify areas of strength, as well as those that require development. In today’s post, we take a look at Ofsted’s new Report Card and explain how it works.
The New Performance Metrics
The single ‘Overall Effectiveness’ grade has now been retired. Instead, Ofsted will assess settings across a range of key areas and confirm their evaluation of each one separately on the new Report Card. For each, they will use a 5-point scale, with the exception of Safeguarding, which we’ll come to separately in a moment.
The 5-Point Assessment Scale
Except for Safeguarding, the new Report Card will show Ofsted’s evaluation of each of the assessment areas as one of the following:
- Exceptional — the highest quality provision (indicated in blue);
- Strong standard (indicated in dark green);
- Expected standard (indicated in bright green);
- Needs attention (indicated in orange); or
- Urgent improvement (indicated in red).
The Report Card will use colour-coding, as indicated above in brackets.
Key Areas of Assessment
For Early Years SettingsFor early years settings, Ofsted will evaluate the following areas of provision:
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For SchoolsFor schools* inspected by Ofsted, they will evaluate a slightly different list of key areas:
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* Early years and/or sixth form education will also be assessed if schools provide them. In parallel to the above, independent schools will also continue to be assessed against the ‘independent schools standards’.
For Further Education & Skills ProvidersThe list of key areas of assessment for further education settings and skills providers is longer still. As today’s guide pertains to younger children, however, such a list can be viewed separately here. |
Safeguarding
Because the safety and welfare of children is paramount, Ofsted’s assessment of a setting’s Safeguarding features separately in the new Ofsted Report Card. That’s for all types of settings, whether they’re early years providers, schools, further education, or skills providers.
How will that look? The new Report Card will show the result for the assessment of Safeguarding clearly as either Met (with a green tick) or Not Met. More detail will be available by opening a drop-down ‘show/hide’ selector and sub-link (shown below).
More Details on the Ofsted Report Cards
As well as assigning a finding of either Met or Not Met to the Safeguarding element and rating each of the other key areas using the 5-point scale, Ofsted will provide extra narrative to explain each of the findings in more detail. In tandem with this, additional commentary will provide contextual information, such as any relevant SEND, demographic, or other factors that may explain the story behind the grades. Additional narrative providing an overview of what it’s like to attend the setting will also be included. These expandable narrative sections will be displayed below the more prominent colour-coded assessment grid and Safeguarding section.
Final Thoughts
The new Ofsted report cards intend to give families both an at-a-glance snapshot and more comprehensive details that outline strengths — and any areas that require development — for educational settings like nurseries, schools, colleges, etc. By showing their evaluation of a whole raft of key areas in this way, Ofsted is aiming to give parents a clearer picture of each setting. That’s in stark contrast to the historical “single word judgements” that we’ve been used to – until now. It does make sense — after all, no single word can ever tell the whole story or sum up a unique and complex service.
Not everyone is convinced the changes go far enough. However, Sir Martyn Oliver, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector for Education, Children’s Services and Skills, has said that the new system should be fairer and better for parents, while also providing tangible and financial support to any settings in difficulty. The government expects the new system to raise standards for children, which is incredibly important — and what it’s all about at the end of the day. Learn about the new education inspection framework in more detail here.
Little Cedars Nursery – a Good Provider
Looking for a High-Quality Nursery/Preschool in Streatham?
We haven’t yet been graded using the new Ofsted rating system, so we don’t yet have one of the new-style ‘report cards’. However, Ofsted rated us as a Good Provider in their most recent report, so you know your little one is in safe hands if you send them to Little Cedars Nursery, Streatham. If you’d like to explore a possible nursery or preschool place for your child at this wonderful setting close to Streatham Common, Streatham Hill, Streatham Park, Tooting, Furzedown, Balham, Norbury, and Colliers Wood, get in touch — or start your application today. We’d love to show you and your child around and answer any questions. We also support funded childcare places for eligible families.
